Good article. Thank you, Earthling.

We have a propane gas range and would light it with matches. By using solar cookers and camp cooking methods, we figure the gas should last us at least a year. However, I have a few propane lighters that are much more convenient than matches and last quite awhile. We used them when we were fulltime RVing.

We still have our 5th-wheel camper and its large refrigerator. We plan to turn that on about every four days (we may have to set up a solar charger for a 12-volt battery to run it) at the propane setting for however many hours it takes to freeze bottles or containers solidly. In a five-day cooler, leftover food, milk, etc., should hold cool enough for at least four days. Reaching down into the cooler doesn't let in as much warm air as would an upright freezer. We kept our food that way for 3 months in the summer of 2006, when we camped/tented in our sugarbush in Vermont.

They are right about many people not knowing how to do laundry without modern appliances. The bucket and plunger is the method that I have described to my prep class, but I also suggest yard-saling for a commercial mop bucket with wringer, if you can't afford 129 to 149 dollars for a hand clothes wringer. The worst job in doing laundry by hand is trying to wring out the clothes. That mop bucket wouldn't do the same job as the spindrying cycle, but it would still be an improvement over trying to wring out sheets or jeans by hand 2 or 3 times each time you wash.